Low efficiency

[Corey61753]

I am new to all grain brewing and would like to know what effect a lower efficiency has on a batch of beer.

 

[SoCal-Doug]

Assuming you mean mash and/or lauter efficiency... Keeping things simple for now... Think about the word "efficiency" as "of all the possible sugars I could get out of the grain and into the fermenter, how much did I actually get".

Let's say you duplicate a recipe that someone else did. All your volumes are dead on and everything goes well, but they got 80% efficiency and you got 65%. Your beer will have a lower OG than planned, because you didn't convert and extract the as much of the sugars. Thence you get a lower ABV, less maltiness (flavor/backbone/oomph), and basically lighter and weaker than the original recipe. When it changes a lot, it could take the hop/malt balance out of whack (unless you are one of those that love uber-hopped beers where you cant taste the malt anyway, then it doesn't matter). In many cases its not the end of the world.

It's very beneficial to know your system, processes and capabilities so that when you build up a recipe, you can adjust it for your own system. It's ok to have a lower efficiency as long as you know what the number approximately is, and know it might take a little more grain to do the same recipe that someone else does with a higher efficiency.

It works the other way too. You see a recipe on the internet that you want to try. It says "75% efficiency" then lists the grains and batch size. If you duplicate it and get 85%, your OG, ABV, etc will be higher than expected.

 

[Sailingeric]

Lower efficiency will result in a lower ABV beer. You can add more grain to offset or work on a system to improve it. I was able to bring up to 75-80% with better grinding, fly sparging and a lower drain rate from my mash tun. The biggest gain was getting my own mill to grind my grains. Now when I do my recipes I shoot for 75% and anything higher is a bonus

 

[parrothead64]

I think consistency is more important than the actual number. It’s nice to feel like you are getting the most out of the grains, but better to end up exactly where you planned. Then you know you did the best that you could do with that recipe. I would rather be at 65 every time than sometimes 70 sometimes 80. Higher than you planned is not better. If you are off, make adjustments next time. Keep doing it until you hit your numbers. Nobody drinking your beer cares what your efficiency was. Get the balance of ibu’s, body and alcohol where you planned.

 

[SoCal-Doug]

I think consistency is more important

^^^ Nailed it! +500

When you brew a great beer, you should want to be able to repeat it. When you brew a crappy beer, you should want to know exactly why and what needs to change. Without knowing your system and processes (which enables consistency), you are shooting from the hip and relying on luck.